THE CHOICE AND STATEMENT OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM

PROBLEMS IN PURE SCIENCE The problem should be of great interest to the investigator § An uninterested worker is unlikely to produce new ideas or to be very creative Every task undertaken should be likely to tell something about a wide area of knowledge Make sure to design the experiment to test well thought-out hypotheses § An experiment for experiment’s sake is less likely to work

PROBLEMS IN PURE SCIENCE Another question to ask, “Are you the right scientist to do the job”? § § Do Do you you have the right background knowledge? possess the right equipment? have colleagues who can advise or assist you? have the time to carry out the experiment? If you are a researcher that doesn’t have more problems to solve than you have time or money is probably in the wrong business!

PROBLEMS OF APPLIED SCIENCE Statement of the Problem § The problem must be stated in such a way that the outcome will be beneficial Assigning a Project § It is important that the researcher who is assigned the project fully understands the problem being investigated Secrecy § It is very difficult for science to flourish under too much secrecy § Secrecy may be necessary at times § Military § Industry

THE COST OF EXPERIMENTS The question of cost cannot be ignored when designing an experiment. Cost estimates should include § Direct expenditures § Materials § Salaries § Overhead includes: § § Rent Heat Electricity Administrative expenses

PRIORITY AND SIMILAR QUESTIONS When a work has been published it is accepted that anyone is free to use the information § The information is available for further work § Should give proper acknowledgment to the original work You SHOULD NOT § Go to someone’s lab and pick up ideas from the work they are doing and then do that work yourself You SHOULD § Find out the intentions of the other lab and then choose problems which do not exactly duplicate their plans It’s probably not a good idea to disclose your future plans to just anyone When you put future studies into your published papers, you should be sure you are ok with someone else carrying out the study after publication.

MORAL CONSIDERATIONS The scientist must consider moral factors before undertaking experimentation § Will it change the world for the worse if cloning of animals occurs? § How will cloning change the world? Work a scientist has done may have unintended uses The scientist must take the time to educate the people about the work. § Scientists are terrible with public relations § Scientists are usually terrified of the press and shun them like the plague § May need to use an experienced press officer